Davis County's experience with water fluoridation is the best reason to vote to continue the practice. It's been relatively inexpensive, safe and will ultimately save public money in terms of improved dental health.

We urge Davis County voters to endorse this public health practice that Dr. James O. Mason, former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, says is "recognized as one of the 10 great public health achievements of the 20th century."

One of the initial objections to the countywide fluoride measure was its cost. The average cost per person in Davis County has been 36 cents a month, or about $4.34 a year. In some communities, the cost has been negligible. In Clearfield, for instance, adding fluoride to the water has cost an average of eight cents per person a month. Communities that installed more expensive monitoring equipment and pump houses had higher costs.

As soon as the county has a few more years of experience with fluoride, reliable data will be available to show the specific financial benefit of fluoridating local water supplies. The CDC data suggests a $38 savings in dental treatment costs for every $1 invested in fluoridation.

As for nagging concerns about fluoride safety, the medical evidence is overwhelming. There are literally thousands of studies that report that water fluoridation at 1.0 ppm is safe and beneficial. A recent study published in the British Medical Journal reported that fluoride has no relationship to osteoporosis, cancer or Down syndrome.

The bottom line is, fluoridation is a safe, effective and fiscally sound public-health practice. Davis County voters should vote Yes to continue fluoridating the county's water supplies.